The choice of filmmaker Barry Jenkins to direct Mufasa: The Lion Kinga Disney production belonging to its long batch of “live action” remakes of its animated classics, could go down in history as one of those unusual plays that can only happen in Hollywood. The nominated director of Moonlight premieres in big studio cinema with a digital animation device designed to exploit one of the studio's legendary films in a maneuver reminiscent of the signing of the Russian Andrei Konchalovski directing Tango & Cash…only, unlike on that occasion, everything in this prequel and sequel to The Lion King It works quite commendably.
The film dedicated to the legendary James Earl Jones, who died shortly before the premiere, features a youthful Mufasa played by Aaron Pierre (Rebel Ridge) and his relationship with his half-brother Taka, a character of notable complexity of whom we will not reveal more details but who truly elevates the result. This fraternal relationship is the center of an adventure story in which the couple gradually incorporates some of the well-known characters of The Lion King while fleeing the harassment of Kiros, an evil white lion played in VO by Mads Mikkelsen… on the way to a promised land.
Jenkins seems to be aware that it is impossible to play with the Disney property, which here faces the continuation of one of its greatest film legacies from its second golden age. But, despite the fact that the cards are marked and the story requires him to use previous characters (from Rafiki to Timon and Pumbaa, to of course Simba himself) he knows how to channel the weak narrative of Jeff Nathanson's script to build a legendary story, that of the Mufasa himself told to his granddaughter, to turn a typical and dispirited origin story into the foundation of a legendary fable.
The director of Moonlight tries to imitate exemplary filmmakers such as Robert Zemeckis or Steven Spielberg in their staging for an animated film, moving the camera agilely and constantly through the digital setting, emphasizing dynamism and seeking the most original and spectacular point of view to present the action. Mufasa. The Lion Kingwithout being a visualization prodigy, it is a film that seems to want not to explore, but at least to exploit, the possibilities of the digital medium to which it is attached and the infinite means that it probably has at its disposal without betraying the vision of the world of its director.
It is a shame that Jenkins, despite the great confidence and honesty he brings to the film (even in those elements that contradict the original: see the “commoner” origin of Mufasa) has to play with typical elements of an IP such as cameos and, above all, all, with a series of correct songs by Lin Manuel-Miranda that do not come close to matching the original work of Hans Zimmer and Elton John. Only when the score uses the segments created by the previous ones does the film rise appropriately, despite the inevitable impression that we are faced with an appendix, an extension, a derivative of the original film rather than one that walks on its own feet.
Mufasa. The Lion King It is, in any case, a film on par with its real-digital image precedent, already a remake in itself; a well-defended story that reminds us of what the studio is capable of even in its obvious current aftermath drift.
